Dhāraṇī-samuccaya SI 6564 from Khara-Khoto in the Manuscripts Collection of IOM RAS. Introduction, Transliteration and Notes by Safarali H. Shomakhmadov — 5
The article concludes the publication of woodcuts containing a “reconstruction” of Sanskrit Dhāraṇīs
made from a Chinese phonetic transcription in hieroglyphics. The “reconstruction” is in the Siddhaṃ
Script. The woodcuts were discovered in Khara-Khoto during the Mongol-Sichuan expedition (1907–
1909) under the leadership of Piotr Kozlov. There is a classification of Buddhist Dhāraṇī texts in this
article; it provides a rationale for the definition of this dhāraṇīs’ collection in SI 6564 as a Dhāraṇīsamuccaya.
Key words: Buddhism, dhāraṇī, Siddhaṃ Script, Tanguts, Khara-Khoto, phonetic transcription,
Piotr Kozlov

Master Rennyo’s Letters (Fascicle Four, Letters 8–15). Preface, Translation from Japanese and Commentaries by Vadim Yu. Klimov — 15
Rennyo’s successors selected 80 his letters and spread them among the followers in five-fascicle collection.
These epistles became a canonical text for believers. The fourth Fascicle consists of fifteen
letters arranged in chronological order. The publication contains translation of eight letters (from
eighth to fifteenth inclusive). The epistles were written by Rennyo from the 29th January, 1485, till
the 2nd January, 1499. The last letter was written just before the death of the hierarch. A translation
into Russian is published for the first time.
Key words: Rennyo, Rennyo’s Letters, Buddhist school “Jodo shinshu”, Buddha Amida, temple
Honganji, Shinran, Kakunyo, Zonkaku, Honen, followers of “Jodo shinshu”

RESEARCH WORKS

Youli A. Ioannesyan. The Symbolic Personification of the Letters of the Basmala and the Realms of Being in the Babi Teaching — 29
The Bab, founder of the Babi Faith, widely employed the symbolism of letters and numbers in his
writings, applying the term “letter” to humans, especially to his first disciples, who, together with the
founder of the religious teaching, formed the “first Unity” consisting of nineteen people. The Bab
drew correlations between worlds/realms of being, colors, spiritual realities of human nature and
types of revelation, which, according to the Bab, were reflected symbolically in various words of the
Babi and Islamic basmala. The article explores these issues, based on primary sources including
manuscripts from the IOM collection, and on the results of recent studies in the field, tracing such
symbolic correlations.
Key words: the Bab, the Babi faith, religion, religious studies, symbolism of sacred texts

HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY

Olga M. Chunakova. A Sogdian Manichaean Parable — 40
The article is devoted to the first edition of the Sogdian fragment SI 5704 from the Serindia Collection
at the IOM, RAS. The fragment contains an excerpt from the popular story of a tortoise and two
birds, widely known in the folklore and literature of different nations.
Key words: Sogdian, Sogdian Manichaean tale, migratory story, Panchatantra

COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

The Urga Diary of F. I. Shcherbatsky (1905). Preface and Commentaries by Aleksandr I. Andreyev — 48
In the spring of 1905 the Russian Committee for the study of Central and Eastern Asia sent one of its
members, the Buddhist scholar F. I. Shcherbatsky to Urga in Mongolia to establish contacts with the
13th Dalai Lama. The latter had earlier fled from Lhasa following the invasion of Tibet by the British
military-diplomatic mission under Gen. George MacDonald and Francis Younghusband and settled
down in the Mongolian capital. He sought Russia’s diplomatic assistance and hoped to return to
Lhasa with a Russian Cossack escort to be led by Petr K. Kozlov, the well-known explorer of Inner
Asia and Tibet in particular, who also came to Urga. Shcherbatsky planned to join the party as he
wanted to get access to the book collections of the Tibetan monasteries.
The diary that Shcherbatsky kept in Urga between May and July 1905 is a unique record of the events
he personally witnessed. It describes his audiences with the Dalai Lama, his many meetings with
Kozlov, the Lama’s Buryat interpreter N. Dylikov, the Russian consul F. V. Liuba, focusing in general
on the Dalai Lama’s difficult situation and the political intrigue he was involved in. Written in barely
legible handwriting, the diary is unpublished and practically unknown to Oriental scholars. The paper
includes a selection of fragments from Shcherbatsky’s diary, deciphered, commented and prefaced by
the author (A. I. Andreyev).
Key words: Mongolia, Urga, Lhasa, Tibet, Russia, 13th Dalai Lama, Bogdo-gegen, Th. Shcherbatsky,
P. Kozlov, Russian consul

Letters by British Orientalist William Wright to I. P. Minaev. Preface, Translation from English into Russian and Commentaries by Tatiana V. Ermakova — 68
The letters by William Wright (1830–1889) published here are stored at the personal fund of
I. P. Minayev in the Archives of Orientalists of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS (F. 39.
Inv. 2, unit 126). This material is very important because of new information about the content of
British-Russian scientific relations in the field of Oriental studies, especially as regards academic
publication of Oriental manuscripts housed at British and Russian depositories, methods of collecting
of handwritten artefacts in different regions of the East. Letters of W. Wright to I. P. Minayev are
being published for the first time.
Key words: W. Wright, I. P. Minaev, Buddhism, Oriental manuscrips

Letters of Bruno Meissner to Woldemar Schileico. Preface, Translation from German into Russian and Commentaries by Vladimir V. Emelianov — 77
The article publishes the eight postcards and one letter from the German Assyriologist Bruno
Meissner found in the archives of Professor W.G. Sсhileico. These make it clear that Schileico was
elected to the Society for the Study of the Ancient East (Altorientalische Gesellschaft) by direct recommendation
of Meissner who then invited him to Germany to read five lectures during the winter
period. The messages contain Meissner’s discussion of both published and unpublished works by
W.G. Schileico.
Key words: Assyriology, letters Bruno Meissner–Woldemar Schileico, Altorientalische Gesellschaft

Nina E. Vassilieva. Chingiz A. Bayburdi and His Contribution to Iranology — 91
Chingiz A. Bayburdi was a Russian Iranologist of Iranian origin who is most well-known for his
researches on biography and works of one of the forgotten Persian poets of the 13th–14th centuries,
Sa’d al-Dīn ibn Shams al-Dīn Nizārī Kuhistānī. Having extensive knowledge of history and culture of
Iran, and being an associate professor of the Department of Iranian Philology of the Leningrad State
University, and later of the St. Petersburg State University, in 1950s–1990s he was a person of great
influence on the formation of local Iranologists. He was also a regular consultant, editor and reviewer
of many source-study and philological works of Leningrad, Moscow, and the republics of Central
Asia and the Caucasus.
Key words: Bayburdi, Kulliyat-i Nizārī, manuscript, Iranian Philology, Ismailism, Sufism

ACADEMIC LIFE

Karine G. Marandzhian, Vasiliy V. Shchepkin. International Japanese-Russian Symposium
“The History of Russo-Japanese Relations from the Viewpoint of the History of Collections”
(Japan, Sapporo, July 10, 2016) — 113

Marakhonova S. I. Serge Eliséeff’s Order of the Sacred Treasure.
How the Son of a Russian Merchant Became the “Father” of the American Japanology.
The Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Asiatic Museum).
St. Petersburg: SINEL, 2016 (Helena P. Ostrovskaia) — 123